Defender Rodrigo Caio, who returned to São Paulo after participating in the Olympic Games, will miss the club’s upcoming match against Juventude.
The player was present in the club’s training centre on Monday, but was released on Tuesday by the board to travel to Italy, where he has to deal with the procedures of acquiring his European passport. Rodrigo Caio, who has offers from foreign clubs, will miss Wednesday’s Copa do Brasil fixture against Juventude. Sevilla have been negotiating for the 23-year-old, but their offer was turned down by São Paulo, who wants €15 million to sell him. The release of the player to take a European passport indicates the willingness of the club to negotiate him in the current transfer window. Rodrigo Caio was called up by Tite on Monday to represent the senior national team in the World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Colombia next month. In addition to the Andalusian side, Barcelona, Lazio and Hamburg are the other teams with an interest in the defender. On Monday, Rodrigo Caio said: “Everyone knows that I have the dream of playing in Europe to be able to learn and develop myself further, but it depends greatly on São Paulo, not just me.”